


Mark of the Beast.

by FollowtheMoon



Category: Pitch Black (2000), Riddick (2013), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Genre: F/M, Imprinting, Slight A/B/O dynamics, soul marked
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 17:28:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10995558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowtheMoon/pseuds/FollowtheMoon
Summary: Meridian hated her mark. How could it be so lewd sounding? Who would say something like that to their marked?Riddick didn't understand the meaning of the words scrawled over his heart in neat script. There was no animosity in the words, no fear. What did they mean?They are thrown for a loop when Meridian is caught in a storm, and thrown through space and time to land on the Hunter-Gratzner just before take-off, leaving her no choice but to unintentionally stow away in an available cryo pod. Meridian had given up on the thought of soul mates. Riddick is just getting used to the idea of having a 'better half', as they say.Can Meridian survive, crash landing on a strange planet filled with monsters, and bonded to the convict nobody trusts?Can Riddick figure out how to let her into his heart and keep her alive long enough to prove they are two halves of a whole?





	1. Chapter 1

_Every day, it's the same thing. Get up, get dressed, eat, go to work, come home, eat, shower, try to sleep, only half the time succeeding. Nothing new really steps inside of my personal bubble of soul sucking routine. Not even my friends. I'm sure by now they think I've abandoned them all, aside from the obligatory texts and calls everyday._

_My best friend found her soul marked the other day. She tells me all about her. I can't help but feel the sting of jealousy as I think about how cute their meeting was. Something about meeting on a bus and papers flying everywhere. They exchanged their timid apologies, and it all clicked._

**_Oh,_ you're such a  _good girl_ , aren't you, sweetheart?** I rubbed absently at the neat but masculine scrawl resting over my collarbone. I felt a spike of anger at the words marked upon my body. Who says that to their soul mate upon seeing them? Why did it have to sound so pornographic? Why couldn't it have been a nice 'hello miss'? Did God think this would be funny?

I felt the burn in my eyes as I stared at the ceiling. It looked like another night without sleep again. I wasn't even sure if I was blinking, to be honest. My thoughts kind of looped in static and anger and misery. I could almost call it meditation with how empty my mind felt at times.

I knew that everyone who'd ever seen my mark had assumed the worst for me. That I'd end up working the streets or selling videos of myself or something. Joke was on them. I hardly ever left my apartment aside from work. A large crash of thunder brought me back to the present, blinking away the burning sensation in my eyes. I looked outside to find that I couldn't see an inch from the window. "The weather was supposed to be clear today..." I muttered to myself. Then a thought occurred to me. "Shit. I forgot to get the mail." I groaned.  _That means getting dressed. And getting soaked. At least it should still be warm out with how hot it was today._

Dark wash jeans hugged my curves with the knees stressed. I grabbed a form fitting long sleeved black shirt that had even covered most of my neck. I debated on whether or not I should just wear my sandals or put in the effort for warm toes later with my black 'combat' boots. I shrugged to myself, grabbing my boots and a pair of socks. I moved to open my door before I paused. I turned and grabbed my water proof purse.  _No use in the mail getting wet..._

The door shut behind me, the click sounding oddly ominous. I didn't understand why until I realized that the rain wasn't making any noise. There was no static of the pattering of rain. I stepped out into the rain and looked up in confusion, getting soaked in the process. The rain was pounding down, but there was no muted roar of the downpour around me. I was almost afraid to break the silence around me, but in some distant part of my brain, I knew I needed to run before I caught my death. I finally snapped out of my hypnotized state to begin my quick trek to my mailbox. I never made it. A white hot pain lanced through my body, effectively cutting off my breath. My vision was whited out, my other senses shut off. My vivid indigo eyes were wide and unseeing and my mouth open in a soundless shriek of pure agony.

And just like that, the pain was gone. The rain had stopped. I looked around to find two rows of containers that reminded me way too much of coffins, one row lining each wall, empty. I looked to be in a hallway, though I doubted that was the case. I could feel the humming of the ground. It reminded me of the humming of airplanes when I'd had to use them. Maybe this was a new model of air transport? I heard footsteps and ducked behind the closest thing I could find. One of the coffins. Only this one was occupied. I noticed the warning labels and frowned. _Am I in a prison transport?_

I looked up to find lots of free civilians milling about, stepping into their sarcophagi. I shuddered silently. After it looked like everyone was in their coffins, I moved to leave, only to feel the jolt of gravity.  _Fuck me, It looks like I'm getting a free ride to somewhere. But how did I get here anyway? And what was up with that storm?_ I rubbed my hand on my dry jeans and became momentarily distracted.  _I'm dry? When did that happen?_ The whole area shook viciously, causing my hands to clamp down harder on the coffin next to me.  _Turbulance?_

I finally got a good look at the man in his prison coffin once the shaking settled. He was muscled. Those kinds of muscles screamed danger. He could rip me in two without a second thought. I looked up to his face and felt my face screw up in confusion.  _Why the fuck do they have him blinded and gagged? That's fucked up! As soon as I get off of this plane, I'm going to launch a complaint about his treatment. It's inhumane and cruel._ I started at the sensation of being lifted off the ground. My eyes widened and I looked for the reason for it, only to see the cockpit and....  _stars? Are we in space? What the fuck?! When did this become possible? Am I in another world?_ I jerked out of my own thoughts and moved to the nearest empty coffin. _Must be how they stay alive. Don't see a galley around here._ I quickly closed myself in beside the criminal.  _Please let this not be a real coffin..._

* * *

Riddick

_They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo sleep._

_All but the primitive side._

_The animal side._

_No wonder I'm still awake._

_Transporting me with civilians. Sounds like forty, forty plus._

_Heard a Arab voice. Some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca._

_But what route? What route?_

_The smell of a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt leather. Prospector type. Free settlers, and they only take the back roads..._

_Heard a little commotion before the rest of the passengers boarded. Another woman. Sweet, like caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. A hard bite of peppers. Woman likes her spicy food. The smell of rain and ozone still clinging to her. Funny, it wasn't raining outside. I'll have to inspect her later._

_And here's my real problem. Mr. Johns, blue-eyed devil._

_Planning on taking me back to slam. Only this time he picked a ghost lane._

_Long time between stops._

_Long time for something to go wrong._

My mind turned to the words across my chest in beautiful script. **There's** **moonlight in your eyes, so beautiful.**   _What does that even mean, anyway? Everybody who's ever met me thinks they're the eyes of a soulless animal..._

I listened, cocking my head in the mystery woman's direction. She was awake, too.  _Interesting. She's an animal, too._ I smirked around my bit. This trip got more entertaining as I heard a soft rhythmic thunk against her glass.  _Guess she isn't the most patient person. Like a tiger in a cage._

* * *

Meridian

 _I hate my life._ **Thunk.** _I hate my life._   **Thunk.** _I hate my life._   **Thunk.** _God is an asshole._ **Thunk.** _What did I do-_ **Thunk** _-to deserve this?_ **Thunk.** _It's so BORING._ **Thunk.** _Been out here for WEEKS!_ **Thunk.** _Can't something interesting happen?_

A strange noise caught my attention and pulled me from my pass time of knocking my head against the glass of the sarcophagus. I tilted my head at the odd sound. Like a vacuum. Not the engine part. The sucking part. I could feel a hard ball of dread in the pit of my stomach as I remembered the saying, 'be careful what you wish for'. The shuttle craft began to quake, rattling me around in my death trap of a box. I wanted to scream, but the sound built up in my throat and could go no further. My heart hammered against my rib-cage, a staccato of fear and adrenalin. My hand found the handle in the wall of my glass and steel prison and yanked it, sending me tumbling out of my coffin. The whole shuttle jerked again, nearly sending me into a steel support beam. I latched onto it with all my might. No way would I die here.

There was shouting up front, but with the creaking of the hull and the roaring of blood in my ears, I couldn't make out what was happening. The jerks were getting harder to fight against, but I held steadily to the beam, fighting the tunnel vision that began to grow narrower and narrower before going black completely. All of my senses numbed.

* * *

  _Fuck, my head hurts. What the hell happened?_ I pulled myself from the kneeling position I was in, arms in a bruising deadlock around some metal beam. I let go with a wince at the bruises that were already beginning to form. I looked around at all the destruction around me. A good portion of the back of the cabin I was in was gone. The heat, I couldn't determine if it was from the planet we crashed on, or the heat from the crash itself. I wanted to groan at the lack of oxygen making my chest tight. Around me, others were coming out of their coffins, reminding me of vampires. Children calling for an 'Imam' and a woman calling for her 'Zeke'. I moved quietly through the wreckage, determining if I was in very much danger. I was moving quietly toward the cockpit, watching a woman throwing things out of her way to reach her crewmate.

The rod sticking through his chest was a give away that he was dead. I could practically feel her regret. Her guilt. _What do you have to be guilty of?_ I eyed her suspiciously.

I was jolted from my thoughts when he began screaming.

"Get it out of me! Get it out!" He shouted, drawing the other survivors to him in morbid fascination. The female went to try to take the thing out of him when he began shouting again. "Don't you touch it, Fry! Don't you touch that handle!" She jerked her hand away, suddenly reeking of guilt.  _The handle? What does the handle do?_  

"Get it out of him!" Someone shouted.

"No, it's too close to his heart." A wild looking beauty informed.

"There should be some antihistamine in the back of the cabin." Fry tried to figure out how to help him.

"Not anymore, there's not." A posh voice piped up. I frowned at the tactless mutter.

"Get out of here. All of you." The others left one by one, A kid, and a strawberry blond man with ice blue eyes stayed behind. "Get out of here!" She raised her voice, snapping the other two out of their shock as the man moaned and whimpered in pain. I stepped up, my medium grey locks catching in the meager light, causing a my hair to almost appear as shiny as sharpened steel.

"He shouldn't have to hurt as he passes." I murmured.

"There's nothing that can be done without medication." Fry gritted her teeth.

"There is something I can do, but it's generally frowned upon." She eyed me warily. "He's going to die anyway, but he deserves it to be quicker than this."

"You're right." She agreed grimly. "What are you going to do?"

"Snap his neck." I admitted. Her eyes sharpened on me. "It's quick, and it'll be less painful from what I understand." She slumped slightly in resignation.

"Do what you have to do." She whispered. I moved closer, stooping down to take either side of the dying man's head and jerked his head with a sick sounding snap. Silence. "Thank you."

"I only wish I could have done more. Maybe save him." I muttered reluctantly.

"Let's go out there and figure this stuff out." The woman offered her hand to me to pull me to my feet. I took the offered hand with a grim face.

We made our way out of the cockpit, picking our way through the passenger cabin, trying to avoid most of the debris strewn about. I was watching my feet when I noticed Fry pause. I turned back to find her staring at a bound, blinded and gagged convict. I frowned, and moved to take the blindfold and bit off. A hand touched my shoulder, causing me to tense.

"Big evil." I imagined he gestured to the bound man. "He just escaped from a triple max prison. Wouldn't want to get too close." A drawling male voice informed me from behind. I didn't turn around, my body frozen.

"So what, we just gonna keep him here forever?" Fry spoke up. I turned slightly to watch both the convict and this man that my instincts were screaming not to let get too close to me.

"That'd be my preference." The strawberry blond man shrugged, leaning against a piece of the wreckage.

"Is he really that dangerous?" Fry tried to whisper, but I noticed that the convict's head twitched our way.  _He can hear us..._

"Only to humans." The blue eyed man replied, amusement still in his voice.

"Is that why he's blinded and gagged?" I spoke up. I didn't like the way he spoke, as if inciting fear for this man would get him what he wanted. "Or is that just your personal kink?" I couldn't help but rib the man. A muffled chuckle came from the bound man. I could hear the cop's teeth grinding as he bit back his annoyance.

"What's your point?" I could hear the slickness of his voice as he eyed me.

"My point," I answered pointedly, "Is that this treatment is inhumane. You already have him bound. It's unethical to have him blinded and gagged, unnecessarily." I glared at the man. He gave a vicious grin.

"If you want to take 'em off, be my guest. But don't come crying to me if he rips your throat out." He kicked off the wall and started to saunter out. "Oh, and, his eyes are real sensitive to light, so the blindfold is probably a mercy." With that, he was gone. I glared after him. Fry frowned as she looked between where he went and myself. I caught her eye.

She must have realized that I was still going to take off the bit and blindfold because she nodded before skirting her way out of the room. I stood there for a moment, contemplating how to do this. I searched the area, finding some welding goggles that I hoped would help with the light. I remained silent as I slowly approached the convict. I was standing between his legs, boldly, letting my hand run up his neck as softly as I could. I sought the knot of the blindfold, but it was just out of reach for my fingers to do much.

He must have realized what I was doing, because he leaned forward, his head very close to my jugular. I heard the inhale, and my face flamed uncomfortably, as I realized he was scenting me.  _For fuck's sake! He acts like an animal. A predator._ I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying to ignore the scent of masculinity, sweat, cloves, blood, and steel.

My fingers finally un-knotted the blasted blindfold, and it fell away. He straightened up, looking me in the eye, causing to suck in a breath, mystified.

"There's moonlight in your eyes," I barely spoke above a whisper as a hand came up to trace just above his cheekbone, "so beautiful." His head leaned into the touch, as my hand moved from under his eye to cup the side of his face. He eyed me with a calculative look in his eyes, breaking me from my trance. "Sorry," I muttered before pulling my had away to grab the goggles in my pocket and fastening them around his head as gently as I could. "I'll get this bit out now." My hands slid behind hid head, unclasping the latch as he spat the bit out. My hands moved to rub the tenseness from his jaws. He gave a low grumbling groan.

" _Oh_ , you're such a  _good girl_ , aren't you, sweetheart?" My eyes widened as the words fell from his lips.

 _Oh, fuck._ I started to fall backwards, but he tightened his thighs around my hips, keeping me in a tenuous balancing act. A hand shot forward and grabbed his shirt, using that to pull myself up.

"Please let me go." I murmured, now upright. His legs relaxed.

"You scared of me?" He asked. I looked up to his goggled eyes.

"Yes." I all but whispered. "But not for the same reason everybody else is." He tilted his head, curiosity evident in his face. I backed away. "I should probably go now." I mumbled, face heating up as I turned to leave.

A chuckle froze me in place. "See you soon, sweetheart." I almost tripped on my way out, trying to put as much distance as I could between us.

* * *

Riddick

  _This is becoming_ interesting _._ I listened to the others shuffling around outside, talking about something here and there. I was hardly paying attention to them as I listened for  _her_. The woman who murmured the words over my heart like she was in a trance. She was scurrying around, introducing herself as 'just Meridian'.  _Meridian, huh? Cute._ And she was cute. Timid, yet bitter about something. She didn't seem to be afraid of me until I said something. Seemed sad, too. Like my words hurt her somehow.

"Hey, your shirt's ripped." A kid's voice. "Cool tattoo. What's it say? Can hardly make it out."

"Not a tattoo. It's a soul mark." She almost grunted.

"A what?" A woman's voice broke in.

"Look. When that ship took off from wherever it did, I didn't come on by normal means." Meridian admitted.

"Stow away?" The ship's acting captain accused.

"Not voluntarily." The tiny woman grumbled. "One minute, I was going out to get the mail during this weird storm. Got out there, no noise. Not from the rain, not from anything else in the city. Couldn't see but a few inches in front of my face. Then, this white hot pain engulfs me, and I can't see or hear smell anything. Just as sudden as it starts, it stops and I'm in there trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Interplanetary transport isn't a thing except for science fiction where I'm from." She paused. "But where I'm from, you find your soul mate," she practically sneered those two words as if they left a bad taste in her mouth, "by the first words they say to you. Usually, the words show up when your soul mate comes into existence. So if your other half is already born, you're born with yours. They get theirs when you're born." I cocked my head to the side.

 _Soul mates? That little thing is my other half?_ I snorted.  _And she doesn't seem to hold much faith in it._

"Being soul marked to someone doesn't mean anything special, though. You can still cheat on your marked. Can still hurt them. Can even kill them. Being marked doesn't equate to happy ever after." She answered my musings unintentionally.

"But what's it say?" The kid's voice again.

" _That_ , dear Jack, is between my soul mate and me." She answered.

"I've heard anomalies happen in thunder storms." Captain offered, almost as a consolation.

"Just my luck." My marked grumbled in discontent.

"Let's go see if we can find you another shirt, huh?" That exotic accented woman murmured, probably ushering my little woman off to help her cover my mark. The others followed, hoping to find water.

 _I like the ring of that. My woman. Could get used to that._  I popped my arms out of their sockets to pull my arms above my head to slide the chain of my cuffs through the break in the beams, popping them back into place.  _Just gotta get her liking the idea, then I'm set. Of course, if she doesn't there's no real loss._ I smirked at the thought, grabbing the welding torch to cut through my chains.  _Now to get the fuck outta here._


	2. Chapter 2

Meridian

I held my hand over my mark, trying to obscure the words in charcoal on my skin. Shazza pulled me over to her and her husband's container, and I wrinkled my nose in irritation. _My other half is a very dangerous convict. Why does that not surprise me?_ Shazza held up a leather shirt to me and I winced.

"Anything that breathes?" I asked.

She snorted. "Good point, I suppose. You wouldn't be used to leather." She picked through her clothes before finding a light grey top that was sleeveless but covered all of the collarbone. The fabric was light and breathable. I smiled.

"Thanks." I muttered shyly.

"No problem, hun. You don't want to show something off, there's probably a reason." She chuckled.

"My mark has gotten me into a lot of trouble." I admitted. "It gets taken the wrong way." I slid her shirt over my head after stripping my torn shirt off. I pulled the hem of the shirt down, finding it just as form fitting as the first. My straight, choppy pixie cut bob felt all sorts of tussled, which wasn't all that uncommon. I used my fingers to comb the locks at collarbone level back to the front, parting it in a three quarter fashion, just barely falling in front of my right eye. I smirked. "I'm ready, let's get back out there."

"Gotcha." Shazza followed after me as I climbed out of her container. I noticed a bunch of battery operated lanterns near the front of the container out of the corner of my eye. I shrugged it off before running to the group who were in several stages of panic.

"What's wrong, now?" I gasped a bit. The atmosphere was really working on my lungs.

"Riddick's gone." Jack said to me.

"Riddick? The convict, right?" I tried to remember if I'd heard his name at any point, but couldn't find an instance. Jack nodded.

"Yeah. Everyone's freaking out." She- no, 'he' grinned. I wrinkled my nose in confusion for a moment before figuring it out.

"Alright, kid. This is gonna sound really bad, but go where no-one can see you, and plug up." I reached into my bag before pulling out a tampon. "You wanna pose as a boy, that's your choice. But you'll be found out if you bleed down your pants." Her eyes widened, and I saw fear in those hazel green orbs. I quickly stuffed a few in one of her pockets. "Go. I won't tell anyone." I ushered her away. She stumbled, running as fast as she could to find privacy.

"Where's  _he_ going?" Johns sidled up to me.

"Said, and I quote, 'gotta take a leak'. That kid is walking trouble." I crossed my arms, uncomfortable with the fake cop's close proximity.

"Yeah... So. You armed yet?" He asked casually.

"Not yet." I admitted.

"Good." His lips came crashing against mine and he bit my bottom lip, causing me to taste blood, and simply by stroke of luck, my knee came up and practically crushed his nuts. I spat into the dirt in disgust. "What the fuck!" He shouted at me.

"Don't touch me." I growled. "Or next time I'll cut it off."

"Hey, is everything okay?" Jack jogged back over.

"Peachy." I growled. "Come on, Jack. Let's go see what we can do about arming ourselves."

"'Kay." Jack eyed the fake cop with suspicion.

I stared at the antique weapons before me. "These things'd break before they could do damage." I grunted. As the others scoffed at Paris' collection.

"Well, what difference does it make? The man's gone, so what reason does he have to bother us?" Paris huffed.

"Maybe to take what you got. Maybe to work your nerves..." Johns said as he limped into our little shelter and eyed me lewdly. "Maybe he'll skull fuck you in your sleep."

"Sounds like a charmer." Shazza muttered, disconcerted by the fake cop's words.

"Riddick or Johns?" I murmured back. She eyed me in confusion before her eyes widened in shock.

"Hun, what happened to your face?" She hissed. The others turned to look in confusion.

"Eh. I'm a klutz. Fell and hit my mouth on a pipe. Lucky it wasn't worse." I lied on knee jerk reaction. Jack looked up at me with wide eyes, almost seeming to know what really happened. I saw her eye Johns with disgust.

"Lord. That looks pretty bad." Fry winced as she inspected my split lip.

"I've had worse. I've  _dealt_ worse." I grinned minutely. Fry checked my face once more before nodding with a frown.

"Captain, we still have those liquid oxygen tubes?" Shazza queried.

"Yeah, why?" Fry asked.

"I might be able to rig something up for hits as needed to help cope with the thin air here." Shazza grinned.

"I'm gonna go find a spot to nap. It should help me acclimatize to the air." I muttered, suddenly feeling very exhausted. "Wake me up when we go in search for water. I'll be in the shade. Probably up high." I told Fry who nodded.

"I'll have one ready for you, should you need it. It'll be sitting in here." Shazza offered.

"'Kay." I grinned lazily at the prospector woman as I traipsed out of the place.

I yawned as I made my way into the crashed cabin, ignoring Johns' trailing eyes. I scrambled up above the pipes and got comfortable. My eyes cracked open as footsteps thunked underneath me. I watched Johns creeping around beneath me. After a while, he gave up the search for me with a curse. I closed my eyes with a smirk.

* * *

 "Meridian? You still in here?" My eyes snapped open when Fry called out.

"Yeah. Be out in a sec." I hefted myself down and dropped to my feet before walking out into the bright sunshine. I blinked. "Is it... brighter?" I asked to myself.

"Three suns. This one's blue." Fry grumbled to me.

"Fuck me sideways. I don't like that." I groaned. Jack cracked up. "Let's get going then, shall we?" 

I watched Johns hand over a gun to Zeke, and they seemed to discuss something before Johns headed our way. "Let's get a move on." He nodded toward sunrise.

I was the only person in the group without an oxygen rig, but the air didn't bother me as much. Probably why I was ahead of them. I started walking backwards to give myself some entertainment. Johns was leering at me while the others seemed amused by my antics.

"How can you be up and moving so much and not be out of breath?" Fry asked.

"Survival 101: if the air is thin and you're having trouble breathing, sleep for about eight hours, and your body will acclimatize to it. I only took a nap, but my recovery rate is phenomenal, as the doctors say." I shrugged. "Honestly, if my mark hadn't gotten me into trouble, it'd have been my oddities that did."

"Like what?" Fry queried through labored breath.

"Well... My eyes, for one. Not in pitch black, but in the dark, my eyes sort of... how did they put it? They glow. My hair is natural. Everybody thinks it's a dye job at first, but it's natural. My senses are sharper than most. And my canines are just as sharp as my senses." I flashed a toothy grin, and heard her heartbeat pick up. "Kinda why I don't usually show teeth when I smile. People get freaked out."

"That's amazing." Fry breathed in awe.

"That's creepy." Johns piped up. "You could probably go toe to toe with Big Evil for a bit, if you could fight."

"I can fight." I corrected. "I just choose not to unless absolutely necessary. I wouldn't say I'm a pacifist, but I try to avoid violence since it gets me into more trouble than it's worth."

"That could come in handy." Fry nodded. I heard Riddick's soft foot falls somewhere above us as we moved through the large hills of rocks. I didn't spare a glance for fear of giving him away.  _He's a criminal. A convict. Why am I helping him? He'd probably rat me out as soon as he thought he heard me if our roles were switched. Fuck! I just can't do it. I still want him safe. It's not like he knows we're soul mates, but I can't bring myself to hurt my own soul mate. The people here don't get soul marks, so he doesn't even know about mine, most likely..._ I paused in my inner musings as Johns climbed up one of the rock mounds to stare out in the distance. Fry seemed to want to take a look too, because she scrabbled up there after him. He pulled a gun on her.

I decided to join the party, in case Fry needed help. Johns' big gauge was already lowered by the time I made it up there.

"What do you see?" Fry asked, as the fake cop stared out of his scope.

"No riddick. Some trees. Trees mean water." He answered.

I looked out to the distance and frowned. "Those aren't trees." They both looked at me in confusion. "There's a wind. They should be moving a little. At least the leaves should. They're completely still. I don't know what they are, but they aren't trees."

"Well, why don't we go have a look-see?" Johns smirked. I gave a derisive glance his way before letting myself slide down the rocky slope.

The short trek to the 'trees' revealed that it as actually a boneyard. I let myself slide down first, leaving the others to talk among themselves.

They were huge. Whatever great beasts once roamed these lands, must have been a sight to behold. The others had finally come down into the large canyon while I worked on scouting on higher ground. Or rather, higher bone. I scaled the skeleton nearest me, as Johns passed under the thing. He checked the skull cavity from the ground and I moved closer to the skull with each step. Imam and his acolytes were moving away from us, too wrapped up in staring at another skeleton further ahead. I reached the skull cavity to find Riddick still lying there, staring at me with a smirk. I froze for a moment, before making a leap over the hole, pretending not to see him.

"Can't ignore me forever, Meridian." I froze.

"How did you know-"I didn't turn to face him, the fear of outing his position still in my mind.

"None of you were quiet. I heard quite a few interesting things. Like your soul mark." I felt the breath leave my body, and I could feel myself begin to shake. "Now, if your reaction was anything to go by, earlier, I'd say you and me, we got something between us."

"So what?" I tried my hardest not to let the tremors reach my voice. My heart was pounding. I knew he could smell the fear on me. Like a flashing neon sign reading: YOU'VE GOT HER WHERE YOU WANT HER.

"So, I wanted to let my better half know that I'm gonna enjoy this chase." I turned, ready to glare at him to find him gone. _Where the fuck did he go?_  My eyes searched frantically around for the convict.  _There._ He was under a skeleton, behind Fry with a-  _is that a shiv? Fuck!_

I jumped down from my skeleton to run as fast as I could toward the con. Johns had approached the captain, and I grabbed a fistful of Riddick's shirt. "What the fuck are you doing?" I hissed quietly. He turned his head to me with a smirk. I couldn't see his eyes, but I felt that he was staring at me with amusement in his eyes as he held up a finger to his lips. He pulled me closer to him by my wrist. He had my back pressed against his chest, and I thoughtlessly rested the back of my head on his shoulder.

"Never seen a captain so ready to leave her ship." Johns was talking to Fry, obviously trying to get some kind of dirt on her. Maybe she realized it, too, because she stood up.

"Maybe we should get moving." She muttered, looking around.  _Maybe she's looking for me._

She moved to press on, only halted by Johns' words. "What'd Owens mean? About not touching the handle?"

She leaned back against the rib-cage. "I'm not the captain." She admitted. "Back there, when things were at their worst, Owens was at his best. He stopped the docking pilot from blowing the passenger cabin."  _She was the docking pilot._ That's _why she keeps smelling of guilt. Fuck!_ Riddick moved forward and cut away a lock of Fry's hair.

"Docking pilot being...?" Johns pried. Fry gave him a weighted look. "Well. I guess I'm a lot luckier to be here than I thought." He plopped his hat on her head and they moved on. The con took a whiff and blew the lock away.

"That's creepy." I muttered quietly so they wouldn't hear. He chuckled almost silently. My face heated up a bit at the rumble vibrating my back.

"Just something to tide the beast over. Until I can get you all to myself." He murmured in my ear. He inhaled into my hair, scenting me again. "Love your scent, princess."

"Meridian!" Fry called.

"Coming!" I called. Riddick gripped my hips for a moment before he pulled away. I started to follow after the group.

"So, what happened to that pretty face of yours? And don't bother lying, I'll know." He demanded. I paused.

"Johns happened." I admitted, shoulders slumped. "I took care of it."

"No you didn't. Fucker's still alive." He growled. I looked up into his goggles.

"I kicked him hard enough to rupture a testis. I took care of it." I crossed my arms. And he gave a rumbling growl. "I gotta go. They'll wonder what's taking so long."

"See you soon, sweetheart. Can't wait to get you all to myself." I shivered, realizing that I might have just become his prey. I jogged up to the others.

"What took you so long?" Fry questioned.

"I got stuck. Took me a moment to get free." I hedged. Johns snorted.

"Maybe you shouldn't have been dancing around those bones. You could get hurt." He taunted in a patronizing tone. I rolled my eyes, trudging on.

* * *

 There was a settlement.  _Was_. It was just a group of abandoned buildings now. I cautiously snooped around, looking to find a weapon or something I could fashion into a weapon. There hadn't been a single thing I could use at the crash site, so I was stuck weaponless this whole time. I picked my way through drawers, finally finding silverware. I grabbed the butter knives, intent on fashioning them into throwing knives if they were well balanced.

Everyone else was busy checking for things they could use, while I sharpened my blades. They were coming along nicely. I had about twenty, thanks to all the empty houses. Fry was checking over the ship she had found, so I had made myself scarce from Johns for the time being.

I shot up when I heard shots, giving away my position on the roof. The others were already running toward the noise, while I scrambled to get down. They were quite a ways away before I had made it out of the settlement. My feet carried me swiftly to find Shazza being held back by Fry, shrieking about Zeke, and Johns wailing on an unconscious Riddick.

"Hey!" I shoved him off. "Enough! He's out for the count." I crossed my arms in defense.

"He fucking killed Zeke!" Shazza screamed, distracting me from the still worked up fake cop. He got in a punch, re-splitting my lip and knocking me to the ground. I wiped away the blood with one hand, instinctively grabbing sand with the other. As I heard his foot steps approaching, I tossed the sand into his face.

He gave a shout, and I stood and grabbed his shirt, pulling him into my fist a few times, before swiping his feet out from under him and throwing him to the dust before holding one of my new throwing knives to his throat as I straddled his chest.

"Everybody chill the fuck out!" I barked, before being kicked off of the fucker. Shazza had gotten free from Fry's grasp.

"So you're on his side, then?!" She snarled.

"Would you fucking calm down?!" I shouted. "If any of you had your heads on straight, you'd notice he didn't do it! Look at him! There's no blood!" Shazza swung her fist at me but I was quick to dodge and put force down on a pressure point to knock her out. She dropped.

I heard his steps too late, because when I turned back toward Johns, he slammed his gun into my head. I blacked out.

* * *

 "Fuck me, that hurts." I grunted as I came to. I could feel my wrists tied and being held in front of me, while I sat over something. Straddled, more like. I was leaning on something, my head rested against it. The scent of masculinity, sweat, cloves, blood and steel wafted against my nose and I jolted upright. I opened my eyes, and came face to face with a goggle-less Riddick. I flicked my gaze down to confirm that I was indeed straddling him. "Fuck." I groaned, laying my head back on his shoulder. "This isn't even funny."

" _I'm_ pretty comfy." He purred in my ear. "They're all pretty pissed. You dropped that woman, Shazza with a fucking poke. And you broke the merc's nose. He's been cursing up a storm about his eyes, too. What'd you do to them?" His rumbling voice was amused.

"I was just trying to stop Johns. He was wailing on you. You were unconscious, so there was no need for that shit. He threw a swing at me, and I just reacted. Threw sand in his face and punched him in the face a few times before I threw him. Shazza, I just hit a pressure point. She'll be fine." I wriggled around, ignoring the purring groan that escaped his lips. "They didn't take my knives. The idiots." I grinned. I looked up and couldn't help the snort that escaped my lips. "And they used rope to tie me. Really? I'm insulted."

"You know how to handle yourself, huh? Good to hear, sweetheart." He nipped my ear as I tried to tug at the knot near my wrists. I yelped.

"Riddick, quit! I'm trying to focus." I hissed in frustration, jerking my head away from him.

"Sorry." He wasn't really. "Here comes captain. Better be able to get that knot undone fast."

I grunted, scooting closer to him, practically plastering myself to his chest, trying to get more slack to better untie the knot. "Working on it." I whispered.

"Where's the body?" Fry asked, ignoring me completely. I turned my head, letting my fingers work blindly on loosening the rope. I eyed her speculatively, watching her shift uncomfortably under my gaze. Riddick didn't answer. "What about the noises you said you heard."

"He's been awake long enough to talk to y'all?" I grunted at the docking pilot before turning to him. "How long have you been awake?" I asked him. He smirked and I felt some form of humiliation settle in my stomach. "Have you been awake the whole time I've been tied here? And you didn't try to wake me?" He didn't answer either of us. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I hissed. He had his eyes closed when I moved to look at his face. "You're an asshole, I hope you know." I informed him.

"Look, you told Johns you heard something." Fry tried to get us back on topic. "Wanna tell me what it was?" The first part of the knot was unraveled and I eyed them both, trying to keep my movement to a minimum. Still Riddick didn't say anything. Fry moved to leave.

"Look, if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine. But just so you know..." She turned back to us. "There's a debate going on as whether we should leave you here to die." Her gaze flicked to me. "The both of you." I glared, aware just how unnerving it looked to see my eyes glowing in the lack of light. My steel hued hair began to fall in my face, making me look a bit demonic. She faltered before turning to leave.

"You mean the whispers?" His deep voice sent shivers down my spine and a liquid head to my core. I wanted to shift to relieve the feeling, but I didn't want to distract him. Fry paused, then turned back yo us. I caught him taking a quiet inhale, scenting me. I all but buried my face into his neck trying to hide the redness of my face.

"What whispers?" She fell into his trap.

"The ones telling me to go for the sweet spot, just left of the spine, fourth lumbar down." He smirked. "It has a metallic taste, human blood. Copperish. Cut it with peppermint schappes, that goes away. Course-"

"Mind shocking me with the truth now?" Fry interrupted, unnerved by his creeptastic spiel. I was unnerved, too. Not by his words, but my own bodily reaction to his voice. He could smell it, too.

"All you people are so scared of me." He leaned back, widening his legs, effectively sliding me closer to feel a prominent bulge beginning to pulse against me. My eyes widened to the size of saucers and my breath seized in my chest. "Most days I'd take that as a compliment. But it ain't me you gotta worry about, now." His smirk was cocky, as I tried not to visibly squirm against him.  _What the hell?! Is he half horse? And why is he leaning back? Does he realize how hard it is to untie myself with his head in the way?_

"Show me your eyes, Riddick." I glared at the docking pilot. The knot finally unraveled, but I held my rope, waiting for the right moment to spring free from Riddick.

"Gonna have to come a lot closer for that." He sounded amused, but I could already feel him softening.  _Damn, does he have body control. I wish I had that kind of self control._

"When did 'please' go out of style?" I grumbled to myself. The docking pilot moved closer hesitantly, stopping a good ways away.

"Closer." He beckoned her further. She took a few steps closer, and I felt him tensing under me. Just as she stepped just out of his range, I jumped away from the con as he lunged for her, straining from his restraints. His eyes were open. Fry's face paled at his proximity, then she realized that I was free, and stepped further to her right.

"Where the hell can I get eyes like that?" We all turned to the kid staring right at the resident convict.

"Gotta kill a few people." Riddick tried to keep a straight face, but I saw the slight tick upwards of the corners of his lips.

"'Kay, I can do it." She heartily replied.

"Then ya gotta get sent to a slam. Where they tell you you'll never see daylight again. Dig up a doctor, and pay him twenty menthol Kools to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs." His voice was cool, obviously trying to scare Fry. It was working.

"So you can see who's sneaking up on you in the dark?" Jack asked, completely psyched at the prospect.

"Exactly." Riddick smirked.

"That's bullshit." I spoke up. Riddick and Jack both looked at me. "I don't know the truth, but it wasn't that. I can smell your lie." I could see the kid deflate, and Riddick began to eye me appreciatively.

"How did you really get them?" She asked.

"Leave!" Fry rose her voice causing all of us to eye her. She must have realized how harsh she had sounded, for she repeated herself in a quieter voice. The kid stomped back up the stairs, grumbling the whole way.

Riddick decided to sit back down, eyeing me briefly before his gaze moved back to Fry. I sat down on the nearest flat surface, eyeing them both. "Did I kill a few people? Sure. Did I kill Zeke? No. You got the wrong killer." Fry became frustrated.

"He's not in the hole. We looked."

"So look deeper." He dared. I could see the cogs in her head whirling. She turned to me speculatively.

"Don't worry, I'll stay put." I grinned, flashing my canines. "Has Shazza woken up yet?" She glared at me before stomping out. "Touchy, touchy." I muttered boredly.

"You plannin' on keeping me company?" Riddick smirked.

"I've got nothing better to do." I shrugged before checking my bag and pulling out my journal and mechanical pencil. I needed to write anything to keep my head sane.

"That your diary?" He teased.

"No. I write short stories, poems, anything to help with the stress of daily life." I explained absently as the pencil scribbled across the page.

"So you're an author." He mused.

"No, in order to be an author, I'd have to have published something. I just write as a hobby." I replied.

"Why don't you set that aside and we can pretend you're still tied to me?" He smirked suggestively. I huffed.

"Seriously?" I eyed him over my journal with a frown.

"Come on... I just want a little kiss." He teased.

"I highly doubt you want 'a little' anything." I grumped, running my hands through my locks.

"Not true." He grinned. "I want a little woman." I turned scarlet, and he gave a booming laugh.

"You're incorrigible." I grunted.

"Yup." He agreed wholeheartedly. I eyed him for a moment before standing and making my way back to him slowly, with the gait of confidence. He watched my every move, like a predator does its prey. I finally stood before him, much closer than Fry had. I was already standing between his knees. He cocked his head slightly, waiting to see what I would do.

"Are you marked, too?" I finally asked. I stared deep into his eyes, which twinkled in amusement.

"Kiss me and you'll find out." He cajoled in his deep, rumbling voice. I weighed my options.  _Curiosity killed the cat. **But satisfaction brought it back...** When did I start talking to myself?_

I carefully slid myself back into his lap, straddling him again. I allowed myself to loosely wrap my arms around his neck, my hands rubbing the back of his head. I let my head dip down to kiss him, softly at first. I broke away to look him in the eye. I found want, lust, and something else, I couldn't fathom. I dipped back down for another kiss, this time letting my need show through. My lip split again, and his tongue darted out to lap away the blood with a growl. I pulled myself closer, whimpering as he wordlessly demanded entrance to my mouth. I allowed him entrance, and was immediately dominated despite his inability to hold me against him. I could feel myself drowning in him. Even chained up, he had all the control.

I finally broke apart from him to breathe. "Oh..." I felt a bit light headed. "So do you? Have a mark?" I finally caught my breath as I rested my flushed face against his shoulder.

"Yeah." My eyes widened. His eyes searched mine and I felt my face flush.

"Where?" I asked. "And please don't tell me it's somewhere lewd." He chuckled.

"Chest." He grinned at me. I sucked in a breathe and pulled his shirt down. I didn't see anything. My hand searched his chest when I saw nothing, as if it'd magically appear under my hand. I tilted my head before narrowing my eyes at him.

"Cover it from the light." He sounded amused. I eyed him skeptically before using my hands to shield the light from his chest. A dim light began to shine above his heart. I looked closer.  **There's moonlight in your eyes, so beautiful.**

"Bio-luminescent." I breathed. I grinned to myself. I looked up at his face to find him smirking with a raised eyebrow. I scrambled off of him and fell onto my ass, my face beet red.

"Red as a cherry, princess. You okay?" He teased.

"F-fine." I whispered.

He cocked his head listening to something. I listened as well, hearing some weird clicking sound. Screaming. He began to jerk at his restraints in a rhythmic manner, like the echoes of a prison yard during a fight. Or when they brought in fresh meat. I listened, as the excitement died down, and he stopped beating his chains. I went back to writing, trying to lose myself in the flow of words.

"What the hell are you doing, untied?" Johns growled.

"Writing. Are you blind?" I asked, barely sparing him a glance. "Why tie my in such a provocative way?"

"Ain't you just a con banger?" He sneered. "That's why you kept trying to help him, isn't it?"

"I helped him because it was the decent thing to do." I shot back. "I don't expect a scumbag merc like you to understand."

"Oh, yeah?" Johns snarled, pulling out his gun, only for Riddick to growl. Johns paused before stowing away his gun to talk to the Big Evil.

"Look, here's the deal: you work without chains, without bit, without shivs." Johns bartered.

"What, so I can go back to some asshole of a cell? Fuck you." Riddick spat.

"The truth is... is I'm tired of chasing you." Johns admitted.  _Lies..._

"You saying you'd cut me loose?" Riddick seemed skeptical.

"I'm thinking you could have died in the crash." Johns shrugged.

"Horseshit." I grumbled quietly, but Riddick must've heard since his gaze flicked to me for a split second.

"You want my recommendation? Do me." The bald man dared.

"Okay." The merc muttered to himself.  _Fuck! Johns, you kill him and I'll shove that fucking big gauge up your ass and empty the clip!_

"Ghost me, motherfucker. That's what I'd do to you." The convict goaded. Johns held up his gun and Riddick turned his head. A shot rang out, and my fingers hurt from how hard I was gripping my book, knuckles white. The chains went slack. Riddick turned his head back to look at the merc. I let out the breath I didn't know I was even holding.

"I want you to remember this moment. How it could have gone and didn't." Johns held out Riddick's goggles. Riddick slowly reached for his goggles as he stood, only to snatch the blue eyed man's gun from him and aimed it at his chest.

"Calm down." Johns tried to placate the armed bald man, arms up in surrender.

"Fuck you!" Riddick shouted. I shook my head slowly, catching his eyes for a moment.

"Do we have a deal?" Johns asked. Riddick paused for a moment before shoving the merc's gun into his chest, taking his goggles back in the same movement.

"I want you to remember this moment." Riddick taunted. He turned his eyes to me. "Come on, sweetheart." He motioned for me to follow him. "Can't have you wandering off."

I huffed. "I'm not a pet." I mumbled under my breath as I obeyed. He chuckled.

"Never said you were." He said, rustling my hair. I batted him away.

"You sure seem to think I am, though." I shot back.

"That's cuz you're so cute, you almost seem domestic." He teased and I bared my teeth at him.

"Not cute..." I grumbled.

"Let's get going, people." Fry called. Johns began setting up the make shift sled for Riddick to pull alone. Without an oxygen rig. I remembered something and darted over to where Shazza had said she's leave the oxygen rig for me earlier. It was still there.  _Jackpot._ I grinned.

I hurried back to Riddick, grinning in triumph and holding the rig. The women and Johns glared at me as I jogged up to the convict, helping him into the rig.

"Here. You're gonna have more use for this than any of us will." I spoke loudly, eyeing each adult until they looked away, barring the merc. He felt no shame. I looked back at Riddick with a smirk. "Here, just bite down a bit on the mouthpiece..." I showed him how it worked. He took a deep breath from it and gave me a small smile.

"Thanks, sweetheart. I appreciate it." He said.

" _Somebody_ should be decent to you. Might as well be me. I hate it when people are unjustly mistreated." I declared, giving him a sidelong glance.

"Are we done, lovebirds? Let's split." Johns called out. And so we began our trek.


	3. Chapter 3

_Just, pretend he's not there, Mer. You look, and he wins. He's gonna give you that cocky smile and your heart's gonna melt, and he'll know he won this round. Do. Not. Look._ I glanced over to my convict walking companion and he smirked. I averted my eyes, coloring slightly before speeding up my gait. Shazza, Johns, and Fry all turned back to glare at me and I instantly hung back. I was walking by Riddick again with a sigh.

"Guess that didn't work out like you planned, huh, princess?" Riddick teased.

"...Shut up." I crossed my arms and hunched as my face began to mimic a tomato. He chuckled.

"So what, you wave your magic stick and he's one of us now?" Shazza asked the merc.

"No. But this way, I don't have to worry about any of you going to sleep and not waking up." Johns replied with a tinge of amusement.

"Does this mean I can talk to him now?" Jack asked excitedly.

"No." The prospector and merc said in unison. Jack deflated a bit.

"What about Meridian? She's not a convict or anything." She tried again.

"No!" They both said, voices firm. The kid wilted and I sighed.

"Why are people such assholes?" I combed my fingers through my hair, trying to smooth my choppy locks down.

"You really want an answer, sweetheart?" Riddick queried.

"Why are you even bothering with me, anyway?" I redirected the conversation. "Yeah, we're soul mates, but that doesn't mean anything." I spoke in a whisper.

"I was born with nothing to my name. Practically destined for this life. But you? You're the first good thing that's come into it. I ain't letting that go without a fight. So you can either enjoy the ride with me and try not to die, or deal with me chasing you across the 'verse and back again until I decide it ain't worth it." He muttered lowly with a wolfish grin. "I enjoy a good chase, so you might be in for a long run." I blushed.

"I'm not about to put myself up for abandonment." I sniffed. "So you'll just have to chase me, I suppose." I looked ahead, stubbornly refusing to look over to his growing grin. "I don't expect anything more from you than what my family gave me. If they left me, so will you, once you're bored with me." And just like that, his grin diminished into a snarl.

"Is that so? You don't even know me, princess." He growled at me. I turned a glare to him, feeling a much more piercing glare behind his goggles directed back.

"I know what I've been through. Why would you be any different than them?" I retorted. He didn't answer, instead choosing to give me what I assumed was a hard stare. "Because I'm your soul mate?" I scoffed. "My mother cheated on my father while he was battling cancer. A month after his death, she was remarried. My dad was her soul mate. Soul mates mean nothing." I turned my jaded gaze back to the rest of the group.

"Would you do that? Cheat on your soul mate?" He asked, voice grim. I whipped my head to face him again.

"Never!" I just about snarled. "Nobody deserves to lie awake, wondering why they weren't enough." My hands shook in fists down at my side. "I'm not my mother." I said in almost a whisper, fighting back angry tears as I stared at my feet.

"Then why do you think I would? If I wanted to hurt ya, I'd just kill ya. I'm more interested in making you mine. Permanently." His words brought me up short. I stopped in my tracks for a moment, trying to process it.

"I've learned the hard way not to hold everyone up to my expectations for myself. Often times than not, they fall short." I finally muttered as I caught up to him.

"Not everyone's gonna fall short, princess. Just gotta decide if it's worth the risk." Riddick grunted. I fell silent. At that moment, Paris dropped one of his bottles of booze. He turned back to grab for it, only to be intercepted by Riddick. As they straightened back up, Paris held out his hand to be shook.

"Paris P. Ogilvie. Antiquities dealer, entrepreneur." He introduced himself. Riddick took his hand into a firm grip and smirked.

"Richard B. Riddick. Escaped convict, murderer." He mocked. The frail man shook in fear, though he'd tried to remain friendly. Richard popped open the wine.

"That shirazz is a lovely drop. Very expensive." Paris tried to protest. I watched the liquid disappear from the bottle as Riddick gulped it down. "By all means, help yourself." The frail man muttered, turning away to catch up with the others.

"I hope you aren't a lecherous drunk. Or that you have a high tolerance to alcohol." I muttered. "And that they give you plenty of water. Dehydration's a bitch."

"Worried, princess?" He teased.

"Should I be?" I glared at him, back straight. "You gonna give me a reason to worry about you drinking?" We had paused in our steps as I squared off with him. He tilted his head at me, reminding me of a predator deciding on whether or not the thing in front of them is a threat. He gave a feral grin.

"You're kinda cute, all puffed up like a kitten." He chuckled. He started moving again, leaving me gawking at his well muscled shoulders. "Don't worry. I like my women willing."

"I am  _not_ cute! And I don't resemble a kitten in _any_ way!" I near shrieked as I jogged to catch up, catching everyone else's attention. "Take it back!"

"Okay. You're not cute. And you're not like a kitten." He paused for a moment before a smartass grin split his face. "You're an adorable little Omega." He snickered at my furiously red face.

 _One of these days, I'm gonna kick his Alpha male ass._ I kept my eyes down as I stomped on.

"Hurry up, lovebirds." Johns hollered back. "You're burning daylight."

"And you're burning unnecessary calories, flapping your jaws like that." I sneered back. Jack snorted up ahead, holding back laughter. The others shifted uncomfortably, nervous from the two most dangerous seeming people banding together. "We're right behind you, so quit your bitching and mush on."

"You heard the lady. Mush on." Riddick taunted, getting everyone moving again.

Everything quieted down for a moment, and I let my mind wander before my eyes alighted back to my companion.

"So. Richard, huh?" I mused. He stiffened minutely.

"Yeah." He tilted his head in my direction, almost daring me to say something.

"I like it. It suits you." I gave a small smile. He stopped walking for a moment, but I kept moving. I wasn't falling for him.  _You keep telling yourself that._

* * *

 

Riddick

 I felt my heart stop for an agonizing second, watching her keep walking like the world hadn't shifted beneath our feet. Maybe it hadn't. Maybe I was the only one effected by that little bit of approval.  _I don't fucking get it. She's just a little woman. She has a point about the soul mark thing. It shouldn't matter at all. I've never met her before today, so why does it feel like the center of gravity has shifted? It ain't the soul mark, or she'd be effected, too. Fuck, ever since I met her I've been out of sorts. Thought it was just interest. Curiosity._ I began moving again, quickly catching up with the little minx.  _I don't think I've ever been this wrong before. What the hell is it? **Mate. She's our mate.** What do you mean, 'mate'? What does this shit even mean?  **Our Imprint. Our mate. Our Omega.**_ I glanced at her behind my goggles to see her still smiling a bit. My chest tightened and felt warm.  _Fuck. I'm out of my depth, here._ I internally groaned. I didn't have much longer to ruminate on my beast's words, because within minutes we reached the settlement.

They had me pull the sled to the little skiff, and the little woman worked to un-yolk me. I relished in her touches, giving low purrs when her hands brushed over my chest. She gave me a glare of warning, to which I responded with a cocky grin. When I was free, she backed away and turned to the others, waiting for an assignment. They ignored her completely. I stepped up, intent on checking to see if the skiff was even able to fly. Johns stepped in my way.

"Why don't you go see if there's something we can patch up these wings with, huh?" He tilted his head in challenge. I inwardly snorted at his attempt at being top dog. It was laughable. I turned away, seeing the little woman inspecting something and a thought came to my mind. I smirked.

* * *

Meridian

I felt a chest press itself against my back and stiffened at the familiar presence. I glanced around, noting everyone watching us. His hands rubbed up and down my arms, holding me firmly against him.

"Ya know, I still haven't gotten to get this close to you, unrestrained." He purred into my hair. I felt my breath catch in my throat. One arm snaked itself around my waist as he nipped my ear. "I've been meaning to do this for some time..." I felt liquid heat pool in my core and my face flushed. I was frozen in place. He pulled away from me and I turned to see him walking away, my journal in hand.

"Richard!" I huffed. "You could have just asked!" He guffawed.

"Not near as fun as getting you riled up, princess." He chuckled, turning a corner, out of sight.

"Men." I sighed in exasperation. I looked around for something to do, only to come up empty.

 _Guess I can make sure my blades are straight and sharp. Gonna want high ground though. Don't want Johns sneaking up on me._ I eyed the blue eyed man who was leering at me in a threateningly perverse manner. I quickly rounded a corner before scaling the nearest building, hopping from roof to roof.

I made myself comfortable on the biggest building, on a weird patch on the roof. I lost track of time, seeing everyone milling about, working on this, that, and the other. It was when Riddick approached my building that I began to set away my blades, stashing them into the hem of my pants, now that I had some ace bandages as a buffer between my skin and the metal to avoid being cut. I had wrapped my arms from wrists to elbows as make shift sheathes for more of my throwing knives, and even wrapped my ankles under my jeans and boots, for even more knives. In total, There were ten at my torso, two on each arm, and three in each boot.

He was inspecting the front of my building, and Jack had come up to hide behind the tarp that must have blown there at some point. Johns grabbed Riddick's attention.

"Come on, boy. You're missing the party." Johns said with a whistle and pat on the leg, like he was calling a dog. I gripped one of the blades on my arm, tempted to throw it into his skull. Riddick turned to give the building another once over before tugging the tarp down revealing Jack with her freshly shorn head.

"Come on, you're missing the party." He beckoned in a mockery of the merc's previous words. "And princess? Get your cute little ass down here." He called a bit louder. I huffed.

"I'm coming." I grumbled huffily. "Asshole." Jack clambered down and I moved to follow before I noticed one of the kids crawling through a hole in the side of the building.  _What the hell are you doing, kid?_ I followed him through the hole, catching his attention with a hand on his shoulder. Just then, the roof split open, sunlight filtering in from the sky light, causing a hoard of creatures to begin shrieking and flying about, tearing at our clothes. The kid tried to run for some doors before I tackled him to the ground and sent him crawling to the hole that we had come from while I pulled out two of my blades, slashing at anything coming in range. The child shouted as he wriggled in panic toward the hole. He was half way out when the main doors were shot open. The others opened the door to see me being swarmed by the little fuckers only to be met with a blade. There was a pile of them at my feet, and the kid, Ali, was still trying to squirm through the hole. The extra light from the door must have scared them since they immediately retreated from me, and made a beeline for the well at the center of the room.

I almost dropped from exhaustion as the others rushed in, pulling the hysterical child from the opening. My knees threatened to buckle before Riddick scooped me up. The others paid me no mind until Imam approached us.

"Thank you. How may I ever repay you?" He asked sincerely.

"Is there any more water left over?" I asked, shaking from the absence of adrenalin and exhaustion.

"Yes, I will go get you some. It is the least I can do for you." The holy man bowed before leaving with his kids.

"And make sure you tell them to stick to the group next time." I called after him. I whimpered. "I am so tired."

"Sleep, princess. I got you." Riddick whispered in my ear. I obeyed without protest, curling against his chest and clutching his shirt for reassurance.


	4. Chapter 4

Riddick

 _What is it with this woman?_ I glanced down at my sleeping burden. I'd yet to set her down, even when we had checked the well. She hadn't let go of my shirt, but I wasn't gonna make her.

"She is resting?" The holy man approached with a bottle filled with water for the woman in my arms.

"Yeah. What else would anybody expect though." I replied, taking the bottle as I shifted her around a bit. Everyone was looking around, but aside from the holy man and his acolytes, nobody had even checked to see if she was alright.  _It's funny how everyone turned on her for helping me, but they're treating me better than her._  

The woman with wild dark hair approached me, holding out her rig. "Here." I shifted the woman in my arms to grab it for inspection.

"What, it's broken?" I asked throwing it to the ground. My little woman whimpered and gripped my shirt tighter as she shifted in my grip. We both glanced down at the deceptively lethal woman.

"No, there's still a few hits left." She looked up into my goggles. "Actually, you asshole, I'm trying to say I'm sorry." Her attitude was grating on my nerves.

"I ain't the one you gotta apologize to. And when you do, it better not be as shitty as that." I growled. I stalked of, intent on finding somewhere to settle her down until I noticed Johns and the captain moving back into the skiff.  _Sorry, sweetheart. Looks like I can't get you in a cozy bed just yet._ I sat on one of the barrels beside the skiff, settling her safely at my feet. She didn't seem to care about how soft or hard the ground was, so I let her lay there. I worked on grinding down the piece of metal I had scavenged for a shiv.

"He can pilot?" The captain hissed. I smirked as I listened in on their little conversation. I looked down at the woman sleeping at my feet.  _That's right. And if I have anything to say about it, me and princess here will be using this piece of shit to get to freedom, others be damned._

"That's how he escaped the last prison he was in. A lot of people died." Johns informed. "If we wait til the last minute, he has less time to make a break for it and leave us here."

"I don't get why we can't just stick to our deal-" Carolyn tried.

"Look. He's gotta pay for his crimes, I can't change that. I don't make the rules." He interrupted.  _Johns just really wants his payday._ I snorted. The little woman at my feet twitched in her sleep, reminding me of a pup dreaming. I grinned at the thought.

 _Soon, princess, you're gonna be curled up against me when you sleep, too tired to move._  

Johns stepped out as I took to spreading some of the grease in one of the barrels against my scalp. I picked up my new blade and began to scrape it across my scalp, going against the grain of the hair.

"Thought I said no shivs." Johns managed through dry heaves.

"What, this?" I looked up at him. "Nah, this just a grooming appliance." I gave it another pass over my head, then scraping off the grease into the barrel, sharpening the blade further with each pass. Johns left it alone, deciding it to be a better idea to get his fix. I decided to use that time wisely.

I stepped into the skiff, closing the hatch so that I could get some privacy with the captain. "Still need a few." I spoke, watching her jump. She turned to me, fear and guilt on her face. "Power cells." I clarified. She stood, and pressed a button.

"They're coming." She barely uttered out.

"Strange, not getting them before doing a full system check. Unless..." I approached her, successfully unnerving the newly appointed captain. "Unless Johns told you the particulars of my last escape." I was testing her.

"I got the quick and ugly version." She admitted.

"And you're worried about a repeat performance." I surmised.

"It has crossed our minds." The smell of fear was beginning to morph into a hint of arousal.

"I asked what  _you_ thought." I smirked.

"You scare me, Riddick." She allowed. "Is that what you want to hear? Look, I need to get back to work, so..." She trailed off as she sat down. The scent of arousal was beginning to overpower the reek of fear.  _Can't have that._

"I wanted to get a moment alone with you, Carolyn. Without the chains. I wanted to ask you..." I leaned against a low lying part of the hull. "You think I can trust Johns? Think he's a good, stand up kinda guy?" The smell of fear was back full force. She didn't turn around, but she tensed.

"Why? What did you hear?"  _Ah, evasions. And here I thought you'd be straight forward with me._

"See, it'd be a lot less trouble if he just exed me out. But see, he'll never kill me." I waited a beat to let that sink in. "Well, I  _am_ worth twice as much alive." I could see the disbelief in her profile. "Oh, you didn't know?" I leaned down to murmur in her ear. "See that's why he'll never kill me." I switched ears. "Your boy Johns, he's just a merc." I switched back. "And I'm just a payday. The creed is greed."

"If you're done wasting my time, I gotta get back to work."  _Ballsy._ "Doesn't matter what you say, you can't get us to turn on each other." I stood up straight for a moment before leaning on her chair.

"I don't know when it's gonna happen, but once darkness sets in, once the dying starts... This little psychotic family of our is gonna tear itself apart. After all, it's already started. You turned on Meridian pretty fast, didn't you?" I taunted. I moved to leave, hitting the button for the hatch. "Ask him." I dared. "Ask him why your friend had to scream so painfully before he died." I stepped out, into the heat, moving back to the side where I left my better half snoozing. She was awake, eyeing the ship before her gaze settled on me.

"Enjoy yourself?" She asked, eyes narrowed. I frowned, at first, trying to understand why she seemed pissed off before the leftover scent of arousal from Carolyn wafted up to my nose.

"Not in the way you're thinking." I crossed my arms. "Just wanted to have a talk. Can't help how she starts smelling around me." She stood up and moved closer to me and sniffed at my shirt. Her eyes searched my face critically, though I wasn't quite sure what she was searching for. She frowned quizzically.

"How can someone be aroused by, and scared of someone at the same time?" She asked herself. She shook her head, turning away. "Sorry. It's not my place to get bent outta shape over something like that, anyway."

"The fuck are you talking about, 'not your place'? You have every right to be territorial." I rebutted.

"No, I don't. You're not mine." She wouldn't meet my eyes. "I'm not claiming you." I couldn't help but snarl.

"Bullshit! I am yours. You're just being too damn stubborn to admit that I'm yours just as much as you are mine."

"I-"

"And you  _are_ mine." I refused to give her a chance to refute me. Her face darkened in my limited spectrum of vision and I assumed she was blushing. She finally looked up and I saw her eyes were watery. She was fighting tears. I pulled her to me. "You are mine. It isn't just about the fucking marks. I assume you've heard of imprinting?"

"Like... baby ducks?" She asked, curiosity brimming in her still too glassy eyes. I could feel a bout of laughter coming on.

"Not... exactly." I chuckled. "Like in those trashy romance novels that sell for a couple creds in gas stations."

"Ah.... yeah." She nodded. "I think I know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, well... Apply that to this situation. Only I'm not a fucking werewolf." I snorted at the thought. She let loose a giggle.

"Does that mean you're gonna bite me?" She joked.

"Would you let me if I wanted to?" I gave her a wolfish grin and was rewarded with the scent of arousal and her heart picking up speed. I had yet to let her go, so I leaned down to ghost my teeth across the sensitive spot at the side of her throat, teasing her further. She gave a whimper, and her knees buckled beneath her, leaving me to support her fully with a chuckle against the sensitive skin. She was shaking a bit, and while most of her scent was overpowered by lust and arousal, I still detected a bit of fear. "You scared of me, princess?" I asked as I pulled back to look at her seriously.

"Not really." She murmured, unable to look me in the eyes.

"Really?" I frowned. Was she lying?

"I'm afraid. But not of you." She admitted. Her eyes met mine, and I saw memories haunting those sweet eyes.  _What the fuck happened to you, baby?_

"If you say so...." I dismissed it before settling back by her ear. "Now. Would you let me bite you if I asked real sweet-like?" I let my breath blow against her hair, tickling her ear and she wriggled in my hold.

"Yes." She breathed. "But.."

"But?" I pulled back again, an eyebrow raised at her.

"Not here. Maybe when we're off this planet, and I'm not afraid of someone coming 'round the corner and shooting one or both of us." She mumbled, her hands fisting in my shirt. Her whole face was darker.  _It's kinda cute how much she blushes._

"Alright." I allowed. "Let's do it your way. For now."  _I'll take the reigns soon enough, my little Omega._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter is a bit short. Been working on multiple stories, but as my two riddick fics take precedence right now, I wanted them both to have a new chapter today.


	5. Chapter 5

Even with the heat beating down on us, the warmth from his embrace was welcome. It didn't help my sweating though.

"It's ungodly hot." I groused, still tiredly. "And my mouth feels like sandpaper..."

He snickered. "The holy man brought you a bottle of water." He pulled the bottle from his pocket. "Probably should have a drink before you pass out again." He handed the warm bottle to me with a smirk.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." I muttered. I noticed the docking pilot stepping off of the skiff and glared in her direction. Her eyes skipped over us in shock as she went looking for something. A little growl started in the back of my throat, startling me and making me choke on the sound. A snort sounded above me and I narrowed my eyes up at my soul mate before combing my bangs out of my face.

"Anyone ever tell you you're adorable before?" He teased.

"Nope." I carefully extricated myself from his arms. "Not that they've ever had a reason." I took a few gulps from the bottle before stuffing it into my waterproof purse.

"Really? Cuz from where I'm standing, you're pretty cute." His smirk was ever present.

"From where you're standing, I'm as threatening as a newborn pup. When other people see me, they see a threat. Or a slut. Depends on whether or not they've seen my mark." I sighed. "So what did I miss, anyway?"

"Could get dark any minute. There's an eclipse coming." He informed me. I frowned. "Those things like the dark. Which means we're in deep shit unless we get moving. I don't see us all making it. The merc has everyone sittin' on their thumbs to go the last minute. So what does that tell you?"

"We're the only logically thinking people here... So if they're scared of the light, they have to have adapted to the dark in some way. Sharper senses of some sort. Definitely hearing, which begs the question if their sight is based on echo-location or not. They probably have a sharp sense of smell.... We need to keep the kids and one other here. On the skiff where they'll be safe. That power cell will be enough to keep the lights on until we get back. But that means we'll need to get a few extra cells. That'll make it harder to bring back." I had begun pacing, unaware of the wild looking woman watching us. "We need to make sure we have everything aboard that skiff. Extra rations, oxygen tanks, water... We need to get those now and get them aboard. Along with blankets. For optimal power usage."

"I can help get those things." Shazza spoke up. My eyes darted up to meet hers, and she shifted awkwardly on her feet. "You were right. Every time you've said something, you've been right. I know I should have apologized sooner for how I behaved, and I've got no excuse. But you're the only two thinking rationally and not following blindly. So, I'm sorry for how I've been acting. Just tell me what to do, and it'll get done." She scuffed her boot in the dust. My mind whirred to life as I began to take it all in.

"Go." I said simply. She started with a look of acceptance. "Grab med supplies, blankets, water, food... anything we'll need. And light. See that there's light." I turned to Riddick. "Rick, show her how to turn the lights on in the skiff. I'll go get Imam on board with keeping the kids here. Then I'll talk to Jack. We get as much as we can on board as possible. Light first, then food and water, then med supplies, then blankets." Riddick and Shazza nodded and we all hurried to make our quick preparations.

* * *

 

"Imam." I managed to call out. The Chrislamist turned to me with surprise.

"What can I do for you, my dear?" He asked. He seemed less wary of me than before, probably thanks to my 'thrilling heroics'.

"I'm worried about the children." I spoke simply. I could see the wariness return to his eyes. "This place is going to become very dark, very fast. They won't live very long out there with those things. I think we need to keep them here with the skiff. Keep the lights on."

"Unsupervised?" He questioned, skeptical of my intentions.

"No. I was thinking Shazza should stay behind with them. We need the men to stay with us for the heavy lifting, and Fry to show us where stuff is. So long as you tell your kids to stay in the skiff, they should be fine. But I don't wanna see kids die because of this. Shazza and Riddick are grabbing extra supplies around here so that we'll have plenty when up in the black." I watched as he mulled it over. "While the sun is up, you should tell them. And get them to grab blankets. We'll need to conserve energy as much as possible. I have to go. Grab more water while you're here." I turned from the holy man to find Jack walking up to me.

"Riddick said you needed to talk to me?" She tilted her head quizzically.

"You're staying here with Shazza." I answered her quietly. She was preparing to argue.

"These things have acute sense of smell. With your menses still ongoing, it could get you killed. You, the boys, and Shazza need to stay here with the skiff. Keep the light burning. I want you to survive this, so we need to do what we can to ensure that, okay?" She looked into my eyes with a strengthening resolve and nodded. "Good. That means if the boys do something stupid, like try to leave the skiff, you knock them out. No blood though, okay?" She nodded. I grinned and shoved some more feminine hygiene products into her hands. "Now go grab light, food, and med supplies. Don't know how we're gonna look getting back. Light first. Hoard it. Keep these on you. And tell Shazza about our condition. Just Shazza, okay?" I instructed. She took off to grab the things we'd need with a shout back in the affirmative.

I kept a steady pace as I hurried to gather resources, finding high powered lights, flares that I stuck in my bag, a few lanterns. I sussed out chemicals for cleaning and a lot of glass bottles. I remembered all the youtube videos I watched in high school and mixed the chemicals with unerring deftness, making explosive cocktails. I used a stray pillowcase as a sack to hold onto my homemade bombs. I continued gathering foodstuffs and med supplies before making my way to the skiff and dumping the lanterns and some of the high powered lights and the food and med supplies. There was a stock pile of blankets, food, med supplies and light already in there. As I hopped out, high powered lights getting stuffed into my bomb bag, I spotted the holy man. He nodded grimly at me, and responded with a nod of my own. The rings were surfacing above the horizon. Just as the kids began to make a fuss, Fry emerged from one of the buildings. I quickly shuffled to her, and her shoulders stiffened.

"Fry. We need to keep the kids and Shazza here." I pretty much ordered. Her hackles were rising. "To keep the light on for us. And the less people to grab everything, the faster the sandcat will move. We'll just need to grab a few extra cells." Her eyes hardened at me.

"You think anyone will-" She started.

"Imam, the children, and Shazza agree with me. Not to mention, Riddick agrees that he'd like less people to look out for if the lights go out. You, Paris, and Johns are already outnumbered." I cut in boldly.  _I can't believe you'd care more about controlling the situation than people surviving._ "Are you really going to try to isolate Riddick and me from the group? You'll need us when it gets dark. You really wanna shun your saviors?" I tilted my head, using intimidation tactics as I eyes her through steel hued strands of hair. She visibly shuddered. "Get in the cat. We're riding out." I commanded. She followed obediently, looking terrified.

Paris and Imam had already made it to the sandcat by the time I had slid into the driver seat. I turned to see Shazza ushering the kids into the skiff. Jack met my eyes and gave a reassuring grin. Just as Fry hopped on, I frowned. "Where's Riddick?" I asked.

"Leave him. He wouldn't wait for us." Paris sniffed. I glared at the cowardly man as my heart hammered in fear for a moment before the con jumped down from the roof of the building by the cat, into the bed of the vehicle. He eyed Paris through his goggles, causing the spineless sack of flesh to stutter incoherently.

"Let's go." Fry urged at me. "Johns!" She shouted. I started the thing before making it lurch forward. Johns sauntered out of the building I had seen fry exit earlier, and I raised a mental eyebrow at that information. Riddick hoisted the blue eyed monster onto the sandcat with no difficulty, and I sped out of the settlement, watching the lights to the skiff turn on in my rearview. It was a race against time. And I already knew we would lose.

"Where's Shazza and the kids?" Johns finally asked, his mind clearer now that we were in the middle of the canyon. I heard the gun cock at the back of my head, causing the hairs on the nape of my neck to stand on end. "You kill 'em?"

"They're back there, keeping the lights on at the skiff." Riddick informed the merc with a growl. "Put the gun away." The safety engaged, and I expertly dodged the ribcage of one of the gargantuan animals that used to inhabit this deadly little moon.

"How come I wasn't asked about this?" Johns snarled.

"You aren't Richard's and my leader. And we asked the other parties involved and they agreed it was a sensible plan." I smirked. "We couldn't count on you and Fry to make a sensible plan, since you thought you'd wait until the last minute, endangering everyone so that you could keep your bounty." There was a pregnant pause before Johns growled.

"Watch what you say, you little bitch. I can still shoot you."

"And That will cause me to crash this sandcat and probably kill you along with me." I countered. The crash site was in sight. "Stop worrying about shooting me, and think about surviving, got it?" I parked the cat, swerving the back-end closer to the ship. The planet had made its appearance, slowly climbing higher. The rings blotted out the first sun, the brighter of the two. "Hurry."

I jumped out and began searching for all the oxygen tanks I could find, stuffing them into my purse. I turned and hefted one power cell over my shoulder and dragging a second one with a huff. Riddick took them both from my arms and placed them onto the vehicle's bed. There were six total.

But it was too late. The rings eclipsed the two suns slowly, and I felt dread and awe fill me as the light waned on this deadly world. A beautiful swirl of black death rose from the spires, rooting me down to the dust.

"Just a suggestion, but perhaps you should FLEE!" Paris called out. Riddick grabbed my wrist and wrenched me from the sight and threw me forward to run ahead of him.

"Get down!" Fry screamed. I jumped down into the ditch, a heavy body landing on top of me. The hoard flew past, a dizzying cloud of death and pain. I shoved him off of me, making him lay on his back a my side.

"They won't stop until they've had a meal." I whispered as the flock circled around for another pass. I pulled one of my blades out of my wrist holsters and let held it up for the hoard to split themselves open on it. They began to cannibalize their brethren, tearing each other to pieces, splattering me with even more cerulean liquid. The hoard dissipated, and we waited before strolling forward, to the cargo container.

"You okay, princess? Not gonna faint this time, are you?" Riddick teased me. I rolled my eyes.  _Why does my soul mate have to be such a smart ass?_


	6. Chapter 6

_Yes, let's close ourselves inside a giant cage. Brilliant!_ My inner commentary had such heavy sarcasm and was so loud, I was half afraid I'd said my thoughts aloud. I looked around myself in the dim light of the others' flashlights.

"Is this all we have?" Paris eyed the few hand lights in the group.

"No, there's a welding torch somewhere on the floor. Just have to find it." Fry answered. The whooping and clicking got louder as the beasts that lurked in the dark got closer to our voluntary prison.

"Listen." The holy man called out, and everyone quieted, listening to the eerie noises.

"Why the hell do they make those noises?" Fry hissed.

"Perhaps, it is the way they see... Some form of echo-" Imam was interrupted by what sounded like crashing and skittering inside the container. With barely any movement, I flicked two of my blades out and tensed.

"Could be a breach in the hull." Fry murmured, clearly unnerved. My eyes barely flicked to the wall of muscle at my side before they became stuck to the darkness ahead.

"Well, Johns? You've got the big gauge." Riddick taunted the merc.

"I'd rather piss glass." The coward retorted quietly. "Why don't you go fuckin' check?" Then Paris tried to run for the doors.

"I'm not staying in here another minute!" He cried. Fry slammed him against the inner wall as Imam began working on breaking through a sealed door.

"You don't know what's out there." She snarled.

"I know what's in here!" He cried out.

"You step out of here without protection, you might make it two steps out before you die." I spoke up. "Guarantee you, there's hundreds, maybe thousands more out there than there are in here." The others turned to look at my small frame in varying degrees of fear.

"The Omega's right." Johns grunted begrudgingly. I huffed.

"What is all this Omega nonsense?" I growled as the others passed through the hole.

"What? Don't like to label your gender?" Johns snickered. I frowned.

"I'm female. What does that have to do with 'Omegas'?" I huffed as Imam managed to make a flimsy barrier in front of the hole. He leaned against it in relief, only to fall away from it as a spike protruded from the barrier just a few inches from his head. Johns began shooting, further weakening the flimsy door. Paris complained about the space being even smaller than before.

"I guess your world doesn't have the three main genders..." Fry muttered. "I'll explain when we're in a safer area."

"Right..." I muttered. Riddick found the torch and lit it on Paris' lighter. He made short work of cutting a hole in the wall for everyone to climb through. Riddick passed the torch to Johns and began to look about. I wanted to say close, but I figured that wouldn't be a good idea. As strong as he was, he didn't need me getting in his way.

Johns was slow in cutting through, and I wondered if he was doing it on purpose. Riddick was just out of sight, and some part of me was beginning to panic.  _Why the hell does it matter? He can take care of himself. He's strong, smart.... He smells really good...._

I tried to shake myself from that train of thought.  _What the hell is wrong with me?_ I heard the shriek of one of the animals in Riddick's direction, and started to move toward him when he came barreling through, not even stopping as he lifted me off the ground and carried me away from the winged beast. Someone turned their light toward us and Riddick snarled an expletive as he dove out of the way, making a meaty cage around me, shielding me from danger. Good thing too, because Johns started shooting like a crazy person. Without much thought, I gave a soft trill of a purr at the safe feeling he gave me. The world had begun to cool down pretty fast after the eclipse, and he made me feel very warm.

He looked down at me with a raised brow and I flushed. "What the hell was that noise I just made?" I muttered as quietly as possible.

"It's called a purr, baby girl. You doing okay? Didn't hurt ya, did I?" He started to rise, drawing a low whine from my throat to my own incredulity. He seemed to be assessing my condition.

"I'm fine." I muttered. He helped me to my feet and we made our way to the others as they checked out the carcass Johns had managed to shoot down. The light from the handheld was making the skin blister and bubble.

"The light actually hurts it." Fry gasped her surprise. The creature twitched, and I yelped before stomping down on its neck as hard as I could. The others except Riddick looked at me, startled at my sudden violent reaction.

"What? It moved." I looked away defensively.

"Good girl." Riddick rumbled approvingly with a hand on my head. I fought back a blush as he tussled my locks gently.

 _That feels amazing...._ I tried to shake off the feeling of warmth the action gave me. I gave a grumble of aggravation with myself. "What the hell is going on with me?" I mumbled to myself. Johns ushered us all through the door before he and Riddick blocked the hole off.

We scooted a few crates together to huddle around the welding torch. I sat by Riddick's leg, as he kept a hand of my head.

"So." I turned to Carolyn. "You said you'd explain."

"This verse has three main genders. Alpha, Beta, and Omega. The sub genders, male, female, neuter, and all the others in that are in the spectrum aren't as important, since it looks like the sub genders are the only genders in your world. But anyway, it looks like your DNA changed a bit when you showed up here. Betas are the most common gender in this verse. Most Betas stick to their own gender, marrying, or mating as the more animalistic call it, the opposite sub gender. Alphas are pretty territorial, more likely to be animalistic, and can be aggressive at times. They tend to mate Betas, or if they can manage it, Omegas. Alphas can go all protective and territorial when they actually meet an Omega. Omegas are rarely ever seen, outside of slave markets. Seeing as most Omegas are kinda weak and timid, it makes them easy prey to slavers. Alphas tend to snatch them up quickly, otherwise. Ad most Alphas tend to buy them, and bite them. That makes them the Alpha's property, essentially, with their own special mark. Every Omega has a certain quality about them, though. Some find it as a smell, others, a feeling." She eyed me for a moment as I processed the information.

"Johns and I are Alphas. Fry, Imam, his boys, Jack, and Shazza are all Betas. You and Paris are Omegas." Riddick muttered. "Most can't tell until the Omega goes into a sort of heat or the Alpha starts getting a bit territorial, but those with a sensitive nose can tell."

"Heats aren't so bad, I'm told. It just makes them ooze pheromones. Like a beacon. They tend to get more affectionate." She shrugged.

"Omegas get attacked constantly during their heat. It's their most fertile time, so naturally, their bodies seem even more appealing than usual." Riddick said bluntly. "It can be very distracting for Alphas."

"How distracting?" I asked, wary of the answer.

"Well, Alphas are naturally attracted to Omegas to begin with. But a heat is a beacon, like I said. It's hard to ignore for Alphas, but it doesn't turn them into savages." Fry continued.

"So, wait. What about periods?" I asked. "I assume all females deal with that here?"

"Yes. Omegas get their heat about a week after their periods." Fry confirmed. I felt dread settle in the pit of my stomach.  _It's been about a week after mine. Please, whatever deity is listening, don't let me start my heat yet. I feel like it'll be even harder to deal with Riddick with it._  

"But the warm fuzzies I keep getting... I can't be getting my heat now, can I?" I muttered to myself aloud.

"Nah," Riddick dismissed. "You don't smell like it. You're fine for now."

"Omegas are extremely attuned to Alphas. So when an Alpha gives praise, be it verbal or physical, it helps with any stress. In fact, studies show that praise and encouragement influence an Omega's mental and physical well being positively. Any  _good_ Alpha helps their chosen Omega. Positive physical contact also helps the two bond outside of heat." Fry informed. Riddick's hand never stilled its ministrations on my scalp, gently massaging the roots of my hair.

"You can read about the rest on the skiff. Right now, we gotta think of a way off this fuckin' moon." Riddick rumbled.

"Yeah..." I mumbled sleepily.

* * *

 

 Riddick

_I guess they skipped sex ed in the penal colonies... Aside from the basic mechanics of it. So marrying is Mating. Go figure._

_She's alright with me getting so close now. Gettin' harder to stay away from her, too. She seemed worried about the heat earlier. Especially hearing how far away it is from her period...._

_She'll be in heat on that skiff, if she doesn't start on our way back. I got a very bad feeling about this...._

"We've got the torch, some hand helds... maybe there's something we can use from the crash." Fry muttered, taking tally of the light.

"Spirits." Paris piped up. "Anything over 45 proof should burn rather well."

"How many do you have left?" Fry asked.

"I'm not sure... About ten?" The bespectacled man guessed.

"Johns, you've got a few flares, Meridian has..."

"Bombs" My little Omega supplied. "Thought they'd be of use. And few high powered lanterns."

"Bombs..." Fry reiterated hesitantly. The others stared at her in vacant fear.

"Maybe we should loot these crates? They might have something of use. More lights, maybe something to use as a weapon?" My woman pretended they weren't unnerved by her, not even skipping a beat to suggest. "They either won't miss it, or Shazza will forgive us for poking around."

The others nodded hesitantly. She looked up at me for encouragement, and I gave a smirk. "Resourceful. Good girl." She seemed to relax against my leg.

"We might get enough light, then." Fry muttered to herself.

"Enough for fuckin' what exactly?" Johns cut in.

"Enough to make a break for it. Get the cells and run." Fry answered.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but that sandcat is solar. It won't run at night." Paris cut in.

"That's why we have legs." Meridian quipped. "Drag 'em if we have to."

"Now hold on. How long can this last? A few hours, a day tops?" Johns spoke up.

"I get the impression from the model... The two planets were moving as one. It will be a lasting darkness." Imam intoned.

"Hmmm." Johns didn't seem impressed. "These suns gotta come up sometime. If these things are phobic about light, we just wait this out until the suns come up." He tried to remain willfully ignorant.

"I'm pretty sure somebody already thought of that. Locked in that coring room." Fry retorted.

"Since I was asleep for that, I'm gonna guess it didn't go so well." The Omega commented boredly. "Not to mention the others already on the skiff. The lights will burn out eventually, and those things will tear apart our only chance off this rock just to get to them. And we'd probably starve and resort to cannibalism by the time the suns came up." She ticked off the reasons that his idea failed.

"Would you two quit yapping for two seconds so I can think of a plan that doesn't involve mass suicide?!" Johns snapped. The noise of something clamoring around echoed off the walls causing the others to look around in fright.

"I'm waiting." Fry taunted. "How much do you weigh, Johns?"

"What the hell does that have to do with-" He started.

"How much?" Fry interrupted.

"Around seventy nine kilos to be exact-"He answered.

"Because you're seventy nine kilos of gutless white meat, that's why you can't think of a plan." Fry sneered.

Meridian stood up to stretch and walk around a bit. "You guys sure he's an Alpha? He seems a bit cowardly to classify as one, if you ask me." She commented dryly.

"Is that fuckin' right?" Johns snarled as he stood, pulling his big gauge. I immediately stood to defend my Omega, placing my shiv against his femoral artery just as the barrel of his gun rested under my chin. Another makeshift knife joined the fray as my little woman spirited herself behind him to hold her blade against the abdominal aorta. "Whoa, where're you goin'?" Johns addressed me, not even knowing the little woman was behind him, ready to use the sweet spot. I couldn't help the smirk that snuck its way to my face as I tugged my goggles up and tapped m blade against his inner thigh in warning. He didn't waver, however, until Meridian added a little pressure to his skin.

"This solves nothing." Nobody listened to Imam as he tried to calm us into retracting our weapons.

"Alright." He submitted to us, slowly trying to sit down. Meridian moved out of his reach to be safe, and practically danced into my hold. I pulled her close as I kept eye contact with Johns, kissing the top of her head.

"Are you sure you can lead us? Even in the dark?" Imam asked, skeptically.

"No." She admitted. "I can't. But they can." She gestured toward Meridian and I.

_I'm fine with an Omega. But I do NOT want a fuckin' PACK!_


End file.
